


Aftermath

by hartstrings



Series: Fallout 3 Whumptober 2020 [2]
Category: Fallout 3
Genre: F/M, Hospitals, Pre-Relationship, Russian!Charon, depictions of acute radiation poisoning, post Project Purity, the existential horror of being charon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:02:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27491644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hartstrings/pseuds/hartstrings
Summary: For the second time, Charon wakes after the world ends.Whumptober 2020 Day 1 Prompt: Let’s Hang Out Sometime (Waking Up Restrained)
Relationships: Charon (Fallout)/Female Lone Wanderer
Series: Fallout 3 Whumptober 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009035
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	Aftermath

Charon opened his eyes. He was greeted by the sight of a crumbling ceiling. A machine beeped nearby, in time with his heartbeat. When he tried to sit up he found himself strapped to the bed he lay upon.

The events before unconsciousness claimed him crashed into him like a freight train. Grief threatened to drown him.

Lizzy was dead. She was in his arms, and now…

Now he was restrained in some sort of medical room, sensors stuck to his skin. His arm was wrapped in thick bandages. There was only one place it could be. The Citadel. To his dread, he realized it meant that the Brotherhood was his new employer. He had failed to protect Lizzy, and now he was a slave again.

It was a cruel irony. The room reminded him of one ages past - sensors and scientists, tearing into his skull and ripping free will from him. Again the cycle had continued, another turn of the wheel. Another employer to serve. He wouldn’t be lucky this time. Lizzy was a comet, seen only once a century, perhaps - and her light had faded from the sky. The Brotherhood… he’d seen the mark they left on the world over the decades.

Charon started to hyperventilate, the prospect of another lifetime in hell settling over him. No. Not again, never again - he’d seen the light now, tasted freedom - he couldn’t bear to return.

The leather strapping him to the medical bed dug into his chest as it rose and fell, the machine he was hooked up to starting to beep frantically with his increasing heart rate. He struggled against his bindings - maybe if he escaped he could run. He could try to make sure the first person he stumbled across was humble, a farmer who wouldn’t use him for ill. Charon had tried it before and failed, but that was decades ago - maybe time had worn his conditioning thinner.

With a snap the leather belts restraining him split open, freeing his arms. He unfastened the rest with haste and pulled the sensors from his ruined skin. The machine let out a high pitched whine as it flat-lined.

Charon reached for the door and pulled it open - the hall beyond was empty and dimly lit. What time was it? Observation windows lined it next to doors, granting sight into the rooms beyond. He started down the hall, gazing into each window to make sure he could pass by unseen. 

A pounding began in his head once he’d made it several yards from his room. The conditioning was impossible to ignore, but it didn’t stop him from trying to fight past it. He couldn’t do it again, he couldn’t live under someone who saw him as a soldier instead of a friend. More than anything, he couldn’t bear to serve the very people that had abandoned Lizzy in the purifier, the people that were willing to let her sacrifice herself. They had all fed into the pressure on her, told her the only way she could help the world was by martyring herself. So hard she had struggled, so many tears he’d wiped away, and for what?

The headache turned into a full blown migraine as he rounded a corner, pressure pushing against the back of his eyes. Charon stumbled - he knew if he turned around it would fade instantaneously but going back was even worse. The halls were like a maze, and the pain made them even more disorienting.

When he next rounded a corner he was greeted by the sight of Sarah Lyons speaking in low tones to Madison Li outside one of the doors. The sound of tearing metal screeched in his head as he staggered back, trying to escape their notice. At six and a half feet tall, going unseen was impossible.

Dr. Li’s eyes widened, and she tapped Lyons on the shoulder to get her to turn around. “He’s not supposed to be awake. We gave him enough tranquilizers to down a brahmin.”

“Shit.” Lyons murmured, starting to take a few slow steps toward him. “Hey, big guy. Your arm’s still pretty messed up - you should be in bed.”

It wasn’t an order, and for that he was grateful. Charon lunged, elbowing past her and Dr. Li and sprinting down the hall.

Lyons was hot on his heels, the white hot pain in his skull flaring to life again. It was getting hard to see - his shoulder hit the edge of a doorway, and he collided with a wall. Balance as well as his sight started to go - the floor felt like it was moving under his feet in waves. He wondered if the conditioning would kill him, if he continued to disobey - _fail-safe_ was the word.

The paladin caught up with him and tackled him, sending the two of them careening into one of the observation windows. Charon struggled, but she grabbed what little hair still remained on his head and forced it forward.

“Look!” Lyons shouted in his ear, and he could do nothing but obey. Immediately the pain lifted, obedience granting relief. His eyesight cleared.

In the room beyond the observation window a small figure lay in the bed amidst a web of tubes and censors, encircled by monitors and other equipment. Layers of clear plastic hung from the ceiling, separating the bed from the rest of the room like a veil. The face of the patient within was wrapped in bandages, but the pip-boy on their wrist was unmistakable.

Lizzy was alive. 

“Impossible.” he murmured, on the verge of weeping from relief. Lyons released him and stepped back, still panting.

“That’s what Dr. Li said.” she breathed, the sound of heels clicking down the hallway signalling the doctor’s approach. “The purifier’s completely off limits, the rads are off the charts.”

“She’s not out of the woods yet.” Dr. Li replied as she came into view, mouth curved into a scowl. “Usually such a potent dose so quickly kills instantaneously, but it’s not unheard of for it to take days.”

“Let me in.” Charon was free for the moment - if he had any sense he’d keep running so that when she inevitably died he’d be somewhere safe, but now even the separation of the glass was unbearable.

“It’s a contamination risk.” Dr. Li shook her head. 

“I’m a ghoul.” he gritted out between clenched teeth. “I do not intend to leave that room.”

Lyons looked to Dr. Li out of the corner of her eye. The look was returned - the two women contemplating if it was worth the fight that was likely to ensue. Lyons didn’t seem too keen on wrestling him.

“Fine. It’ll save us the tranquilizers, at least.” The doctor sighed. “I’m going to lock the door behind you. When the nurses arrive, stand in the corner and don’t touch them. They’ll be in hazmat suits, but don’t think you can act normal.”

Charon was already standing at the door, waiting for her to key in the access code. “Just let me in.”

Dr. Li huffed and pressed the required keys - Charon watched the sequence and memorized the numbers. The door slid open, he took a few steps inside, and it shut abruptly behind him.

The room stank of iodine and Rad-Away. He took a heavy step forward, terrified that he might upset the precarious balance. Despite all the machines it was fairly silent - the heart monitor beeped weakly, the others whirring gently away. Charon reached out to the plastic and gently pushed it away - he felt his skin tingle as the veil was broken, matching the gentle clicking of her geiger counter.

There was another layer of plastic he had to step past before he could occupy the same air she did, another breeze of radiation settling over him as he did so. The poison still clung to her body, likely tearing apart her DNA with every passing moment. Every inch of her skin save for that covered by her pip-boy was wrapped in bandages. He could see the blood leeching through.

Acute radiation poisoning was one of the worst ways to go out in the wastes. He’d seen enough of it in his time to guess what sights lay beneath the gauze.

Charon gently slipped his hand under hers, letting her fingertips trace over his palm. “ _Zaychik_.” he choked out, ruined vocal cords rasping and sore. He’d sworn to protect her, the duty was written in his skull as well as his heart - and now he could do nothing but keep vigil. If he had to watch her die, he would.

A little noise came from her, muffled through the bandages. She was awake - he saw her try to shift her body, a broken whine of pain coming from her throat with the effort. He could only imagine the agony she must have been suffering.

“Stay still.” he said gently. “I’m here now.”

Lizzy’s fingers curled against his palm, and she exhaled.

The wait began.


End file.
